A Litchfield, Minnesota-based company has decided not to build a 900-acre egg processing plant in Cerro Gordo County. The Sparboe company proposed building the facility south of Ventura but now says the site did not work out. Rod Goldsmith is vice chair of the Concerned Neighbors Coalition, which fought against the plant. He says he happy they aren’t going ahead near the lake, he says he now hopes they don’t move into another county.Goldsmith says that this sends a message to Iowa Legislators that Iowans want local control over the issue regardless of what legislators are saying. Last month the Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution establishing a one year moratorium on the construction of large-scale animal confinements by using the provisions in the State’s health code instead of state regulations on siting. Goldsmith says the group will continue its fight depending on where Sparboe decides to try to build next. Sparboe President Bob Sparboe says they should’ve been involved in the meetings with local residents but says he didn’t comment because they hadn’t acquired the land yet and they had not sent their application in to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for the necessary permits. Sparboe says they are looking for other locations in Iowa to build the plant.
